In Deep Waters (21 page)

"A real mermaid," Gray said.

"A real mermaid," she repeated.

She would rather be a real woman. A woman Ben could love. Not some half-fish, half-woman...creature.

But she was who she was. Nothing could change that. She couldn't change the past, nor could she change Ben,
He would either figure it out or he wouldn't. It was out of her hands.

Her love for Ben was strong enough to overcome this. She knew that in her heart. She only wondered about his.

Chapter Eleven

Sitting on the deck covered with a blanket, Kayla put on a T-shirt and waited for her legs to return so she could dress.

"Pappy's approaching on the starboard," Eugene said.

Kayla remembered the captain who had brought her to the
Xmarks Explorer.
To Ben. So much had changed since then.

Wolf shielded his eyes against the sun. "Delivering supplies?"

"People with cameras." Eugene's voice wavered.

Kayla's heart leapt. She clutched the blanket.

Wolf turned to Monk. "Go get Ben."

"No." Kayla wasn't ready to face him again. Not now, maybe not ever. "Madison needs him."

Wolf frowned. "Kayla, if they see you--"

"I'll spend the rest of my life in some laboratory or in a zoo. I know. I saw
Splash,
too." Kayla took a deep
breath. It didn't help, but she had to remain calm. "It takes thirty minutes. I need more time."

Wolf moved a metal barrel in front of her. ' 'You got it."

Kayla ducked. A minute later, she heard voices. A few she recognized. Several she didn't. The trickling of fear making its way down her back turned into Niagara Falls. Getting into the water was her safest option. She inched toward the rail.

"What the hell is going on?"

Kayla froze. She knew that voice. She peeked around the barrel. Ben stood with his hands on his hips, glaring at Pappy's passengers. A pirate never looked so dangerous. "I'm Ben Mendoza and this is my ship. Who are you?"

"I'm Phoebe Cartwright." A lovely woman with hair the color of honey and beautiful green eyes boarded the ship. Something about her seemed familiar, but Kayla didn't think they'd met before. "The captain mentioned something about a little girl falling overboard. I'm a doctor."

"My three-year-old daughter, Madison."

"Would you like me to take a look at her?"

"Please." Ben's relief reached all the way to Kayla. "Wolf, take Dr. Cartwright to Madison's cabin. I'll be right there."

As the doctor followed Wolf, a handsome man pushed his way past two other men. "Colin Bennett from All News Channel." Not a strand of his sandy blond hair was out of place. He smiled, his white teeth a stark contrast to his perfect tan. ' 'We want to be the first to broadcast your news to the world."

Kayla's heart dropped to her feet--make that tail.

"News?" Ben glanced around. "We don't have any news."

His composure and nonchalant tone surprised Kayla. He'd reined in the emotion he'd shown earlier. He was totally in control of the situation and himself. Each crew member agreed they had no news, and tears filled her eyes.

"I don't understand." Colin frowned. "The Museum of Maritime History issued a press release about the discovery of the
Isabella.
"

"Oh, the
Izzy."
Ben's smile reached his eyes. "We found her two days ago. I thought you meant new news."

Colin laughed. "Old news already, huh?"

"You have no idea." Ben motioned to Eugene. "Give Colin a tour of the ship, see where his crew wants to film and have Vance update him on our findings."

Kayla didn't know whether to be impressed or worried by Ben's professionalism. She glanced down. Her tail was gone. She slipped on the jumpsuit, wiped her eyes and combed her fingers through her tangled, damp hair. She couldn't stand it any longer. She wanted--needed-- to be near Ben and talk with him. Explain things. At least try.

As Kayla made her way toward Ben, two more men boarded.

"Camera crew?" Ben asked them.

"No." A man with light-brown hair and blue eyes smiled. "I'm Kevin Cartwright, the doctor's husband."

"I'm Loucan." The second man's dark-brown hair was swept back from his high forehead and braided. "Friend of the family."

Noming about him looked friendly. A shiver ran down
Kayla's spine. Loucan was so intimidating he made Ben look like a Cub Scout.

"Ben," Kayla said.

Everyone looked at her, everyone except Ben. He didn't glance her way, didn't acknowledge her at all. Tears stung her eyes, but she blinked them away. So this was how it would be.

Loucan stepped toward her. "Kai."

"This is Kayla Waterton." Ben stared past her as if she were invisible. The indifference on his face ripped at her heart. At least he'd said her name. "She's with the Museum of Maritime History in Portland, Oregon."

Loucan and Kevin exchanged a glance.

"Leave us," Loucan ordered. Everyone except Ben and Wolf left the deck. "Where did you get your necklace?"

"You don't need to answer their questions, Kayla." Ben sounded angry.

She appreciated his coming to her defense, but he still hadn't looked at her.

Kayla clutched her talisman for strength. "My father. Why?"

"Ianu," Kevin said to Loucan, who nodded.

Ben narrowed his gaze. "What the hell are you doing on my ship? You had no idea we'd need a doctor when you asked Pappy to bring you out here. What do you want?"

Loucan took another step toward her. He looked like a dangerous opponent, the kind of man you wanted on your team. "We read about the discovery of the
Isabella
and saw a picture of Kayla on the museum's Web site. Kevin is a private detective and he's been searching for Kai--Kayla."

"Me?" she asked.

Ben clenched his jaw. "Who wants to find her?"

"I do." Loucan touched her damp hair and tenderness filled his deep-blue eyes. "You've made the transfer' mation."

Transformation.

Her dad had used the same word in his Atlantis stories, but it couldn't be possible....

Wolf moved between her and Loucan. "Get you hands off--"

"No, Wolf." Kayla didn't know Loucan or where he came from, but he knew she'd made the transformation, "Wh-who are you?"

"I'm Loucan." The edges of his mouth turned up, softening the hard lines of his face. "You are Kai. We are the same."

"We...?" Kayla forced the words out. "The same...?"

He breathed his reply, not even a whisper or a murmur, but she knew what he'd said.

Mer.

Loucan was mer.

Just like her.

Ben couldn't think straight. So much was happening, Interviews with the news crew. Kayla disappearing into her cabin with Loucan and Kevin. The doctor examining Madison. The only good news had been the doctor's diagnosis.

Madison was fine.

He stared at her, safe and sound in her bed. He'd come so close to losing her. Big changes were in store. Locks, gates, video-surveillance equipment. Nothing like this would happen again.

Madison stretched out her arms. "Daddy."

"How are you feeling, princess?"

"Good." She patted her bed. "Look at all my blankets. I got candy and hot chocolate. Uncle Stevie put whipped cream on it."

Ben smiled. "Sounds like tummyache time."

"I didn't eat all of it. I saved some for my new friends."

Ben sat on the edge of the bed. "What new friends?"

"My dolphin friends. I really like them. They like me, too. Can I have them over to play?"

"That might be difficult, princess." He stroked her hair. "Dolphins live in the water. It wouldn't be good for them to come aboard the ship."

"Oh." She drew her lower lip between her teeth. "Then only Kayla can play with them." As quickly as the pout started, it disappeared. "Did you see us swim, Daddy? We went so fast. Kayla told me to hold on tight and I did."

"You sure did." And for that Ben was grateful. He owed a great deal to Kayla, but he couldn't even look at her.

"Kayla can live in the water
and
on the ship." Madison smiled. "Where is she now? Can she play with me?"

Her question squeezed his already aching heart. "Kayla is busy, honey. She's...getting ready to leave." He hoped. He wanted her gone. Wolf called him a chicken. Ben didn't care.

"Where's she going? When's she coming back?"

Never.
"I don't know," he admitted. "Madison, Kayla's... Well, she's...different."

"She's not different." Madison beamed. "She's Kayla."

"Princess--"

"Ask her to live with us, Daddy? Please, oh, please, oh, please." Her brown eyes implored him and his heart
sank. This was one thing he couldn't do for his daughter. "I don't want Kayla to leave. I love her. Don't you love her, Daddy?"

"Do you love him?" Dr. Phoebe Cartwright asked.

Kayla sat on the bed next to her. "Love who?"

"Whatever man has you so torn up inside."

She couldn't imagine her feelings, her heartbreak, being so transparent. But Phoebe wasn't just any stranger. Kayla had just discovered Phoebe was her twin sister, "I've been through a lot today. That's all."

Madison's rescue had been only the beginning of a surreal afternoon. Kayla had learned more answers about her past. Answers nothing could have prepared her to hear.

She connected her talisman to the one Phoebe wore. The two pieces fit perfectly together and formed a half circle, but the other half was missing. According to Phoebe, those two pieces belonged to their brother, Saeger, and sister, Thalassa. Phoebe's husband, Kevin, was a private detective hired by Loucan to find all of the siblings and their talismans. He needed the completed seal to unlock the treasures of the underwater kingdom where she had been born. Pacifica, not Atlantis. The name was different, but the story the same.

Phoebe touched the top of her hand. "Kai--"

"My name's Kayla."

"I'm sorry." Phoebe's tone was genuine. "Ever since I learned I had a twin sister, I've thought of you as Kai."

"I'll get used to it, but life as I know it has changed. I'd like to hang on to something that was me. The old me."

"I understand." And Phoebe did. She'd been as surprised when she learned about her past from Loucan. "I
know what you've been through today and what you've learned about yourself."

Kayla rubbed her fingertip over the talismans. Her name wasn't Kayla, but Kai. Jason Waterton, known among the mer as lanu, was not her father, but a mer guardian appointed by her biological father, King Okeana, to keep Kayla safe during a bitter civil war. Her mother, Queen Wailele, hadn't drowned, but was killed during a battle between the breathers and the swimmers. Her family was swimmers; Loucan's, breathers. But those differences were in the past.

"But there's more," Phoebe said. "You've been hurt. It's in your eyes, and I'm guessing in your heart, too."

Kayla's gaze sought Phoebe's. "How did you know?"

"Been there, done that with Kevin."

"But the two of you are so perfect together."

"Thanks." Phoebe smiled. "But you should have seen us when Kevin first found me. We were far from perfect together."

Kayla sighed. So were she and Ben. And always would be. Her heart ached. Someday the pain would heal. Someday soon, she hoped.

"That bad?" Phoebe asked.

Kayla's cheeks wanned. This was her twin sister, she reminded herself. "Ben and I were together, but it didn't..."

"What happened?"